Lime Cordial

This Lime Cordial is a versatile and sweet drink mixer with a tart edge.

It's perfect mixed with water for a refreshing summer drink, or use it to make Lemon Lime and Bitters or your favourite cocktail.

When limes are in season, they are abundant. My one lime tree in the backyard faithfully supplies my family and so many friends and neighbours year after year.

And you can only eat so much Lime Pie, so this cordial recipe is the perfect way to preserve limes when they are plentiful and cheap.

Jump to:

• Ingredient notes
• How to make lime cordial
• More homemade cordials
• Lime Cordial

Ingredient notes

To make this cordial, which is based on Nana Ling's handwritten cordial recipe and produces about 850ml of cordial, you'll need:

• fresh limes
• tartaric acid (in Australia, find stockists listed on the McKenzie's website)
• caster sugar or white sugar
• water.

Ingredient quantities can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Which limes make the best cordial?

Here, I've used the limes most commonly found in Australian supermarkets – the Tahitian or Persian lime. Limes are available all year round, but are usually most plentiful, delicious and cheap from January to April.

Makrut limes are popular in cooking, however they have very little juice so are not the best option for making cordial.

Other lime varieties you could try include the West Indian or Mexican lime, Finger limes and the Australian Desert lime.

Equipment

You'll need a glass bottle to store the cordial – it'll need a capacity of about 850ml and make sure it's sterilised before adding the cordial.

You'll also need a muslin cloth to strain the cordial and a funnel to transfer the cordial into the bottle.

How to make lime cordial

Start by washing the limes and cutting them in half. You then juice the limes and remove the zest from two of the limes.

The recipe calls for tartaric acid to be mixed with the juice. This helps with both the flavour and preservation. In Australia, I buy tartaric acid from my local IGA.

SUBSTITUTION: You can substitute citric acid, however tartaric acid is preferred.

In a saucepan, you then combine the sugar, water and zest. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar completely and remove from heat just before the mixture comes to the boil.

Allow the sugar mixture to cool for about 15 minutes. Next, combine the juice and sugar mixtures and allow to cool for another 15 minutes.

Strain juice through a muslin cloth, taking care as the mixture will still be quite hot.

Pour the cordial into the bottle, using a funnel if necessary, and secure lid.

Enjoying and storing your cordial

Enjoy Lime Cordial mixed with water or soda water, using 1 part cordial to 4 or 5 parts water. You can also use it in cocktails.

Your cordial should keep in the fridge for up to a few months.

It could also be bottled for shelf storage, though you will need to rely on your own research and knowledge of bottling and preserving.

More homemade cordials

I've adapted Nana Ling's original cordial recipe to create recipes for various flavours:

Made this recipe and love it? Please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. (And it really makes my day to hear how Nana Ling's recipes are being made, shared and loved all around the world! - Libby x)

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